Sierra Club Workers Pass Resolution in Solidarity with Palestinian Freedom
Update 06/27/2023 4:51 pm ET
Members of the following unions sent messages of support to PWU: Teamsters, National Association of Letter Carriers, NY State Nurses Association, Jewish Voice for Peace Union, United Campus Workers, SAG-AFTRA, Unite, NEA, Federation of Dutch Trade Unions in the Netherlands, and SEIU.
Press Advisory
For Immediate Release
Contact: [email protected]
Sierra Club workers of the Progressive Workers Union (PWU), representing hundreds of environmental justice workers, have passed a historic resolution pledging solidarity with Palestinians and their struggle for freedom from Israel’s oppressive apartheid rule.
The resolution is more than a symbolic gesture. It includes investigating union finances to ensure they are not implicated in Israeli settler-colonialism. It forms a Palestine solidarity committee to continue to build directly with Palestinian-led organizations to identify and pursue further solidarity actions. It also includes active opposition to any workplace practices that contribute to colonization and oppression of Palestinians and other Indigenous peoples everywhere.
This resolution is a clear message from Sierra Club workers to Sierra Club leadership that continuing “nature” trips to an apartheid state––despite being asked by Palestinians to respect their struggle for justice and cancel–does not align with a true vision of environmental justice.
Sandra Tamari, Executive Director of Adalah Justice Project said:
"Sierra Club leadership refused to hear their employees' demands for racial and Indigenous justice. Today, we proudly support the Sierra Club workers of the Progressive Workers Union, who boldly declare that true earth justice starts by centering Indigenous peoples worldwide, including the Palestinian people."
In May 2021, a dedicated group within the Sierra Club union formed the Palestine Solidarity Group in response to Israel’s escalating violence towards Palestinians, in addition to the news that Sierra Club’s leadership would continue leading “nature” trips to apartheid Israel, despite being asked by Palestinians to respect their struggle for justice and cancel the trips. These trips were widely condemned within the Sierra Club union and the environmental justice movement broadly, and today, workers are speaking out loud and clear: Palestinians deserve freedom and they shouldn’t have to wait another day for it.
Zach Kopkin, Sierra Club employee, Progressive Workers Union member and spokesperson for the PWU Palestine Solidarity Group said:
“The climate justice movement has finally started to grapple with the role colonialism has and continues to play in worsening the climate crisis––that includes colonialism here and abroad. For decades, Palestinians have been fighting for their freedom from Israeli oppression and theft of their land. Our members have made it clear that the Sierra Club must honor its stated values of a commitment to racial and Indigenous justice and side with the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israeli apartheid.”
Adalah Justice Project congratulates and thanks Sierra Club workers who took this courageous step in solidarity with Palestinian freedom and looks forward to continuing to build with the Progressive Workers Union to implement the resolution’s commitments and further our work to create a genuine environmental justice movement.
